Do you want to improve your power and explosiveness? If you are an athlete, then you are looking for ways to be able to sprint faster, jump higher and reach your maximum potential. We have included the top 5 exercises for developing explosiveness, power and strength in order to climb to the top and be successful as an athlete.
It seems that coaches and trainers will tell you conflicting advise. Some will tell you to lift heavy weights with fewer reps. Others say to lift lighter weights at a quicker speed with more reps. You may be feeling a bit confused and perhaps a little flustered as to what really and truly is the best way.
In order to help clear up some of the confusion we need to look at why coaches and trainers differ in their training methods. One of the main reasons is how they define "Explosiveness" and "Power". Some athletes are explosive, but lack power, while some athletes have power and lack explosiveness. So instead of trying to define and separate these terms we need to think of them synergistically. We need to train for both Power and Explosiveness.
We will be concentrate on the muscle groups that will help you to increase your sprint speed and vertical jump. This is critical for an athlete, especially if you want to compete at the highest level. Most of the time trainers and coaches concentrate on the calves, quads and abdominal muscles. Of course, these muscle are important, but there is one muscle group some professionals fail to consider. That is the hip-flexors. If you talk with some of the top athletes they will agree as to how important these muscles are to sprinting and vertical jumping.
What are the hip-flexors? The muscle attaches to the vertebrae of the lower spine, moves through the pelvis and connects up into a tendon at the top of the femur. The flexors are primarily responsible for the extending or flexing of your torso. When you run or jump you contract your bodies core. In order to extent your body you have to engage the hip-flexor muscles.
This will be crucial in developing explosiveness to move you forward or lift you into the air! You will learn to unlock and strengthen these muscles along with the muscles groups we have already mentioned. Below are the 5 explosive exercises to help you with your sprint/jump by targeting your fast twitch muscle fibers and helping them to fire at a quicker speed.
EXERCISE 1: DUMBBELL SNATCH
The best exercise to start with is the dumbbell snatch. This is a very simple, but powerful movement. It engages all of the essential muscle groups, including the hip flexors.
Start by placing a dumbell on the ground just in front of you. When you are ready stand with your feet shoulder width apart and thrust the weight upward focusing on using your hip-flexor and abdominal muscles. You can hop into the air as you become comfortable with the movement! Swing the dumbell over your head making sure you keep control of your body throughout the exercise. Use more weight as you get stronger. You can also use an exercise band for added resistance.
EXERCISE 2 : SINGLE LEG LATERAL CROSSOVER
Stand with your right leg on the box and your left leg on the ground. Push off of the box with your right leg and spring into the air landing back in the same position. Once you have finished all of your reps you will perform the same movement for the other leg. Perform 3 sets with 12 reps per leg.
EXERCISE 3 : BOX JUMPS
Before you begin this exercise remember the importance of your landing. This help avoid Injuries. You want to land softly like a cat.
The movement is pretty straight forward.. You will stand in front of a box and lower yourself into your power position. Using your arms to swing your body in an upward motion, you will press in the ground firing up your quads, calf muscles and hip-flexors to create the upward thrust. Remember to land softly on top of the box. Use a staircase system to come off of the box if it is a tall.
A lot of guys focus more on how high and fast they jump than the way they land. The key is to concentrate on the jump itself and the explosiveness in the movement. Keep your reps low in order to improve explosiveness. Do 3 sets of 10-12 reps.
EXERCISE 4 : STANDING TRIPLE JUMP
This exercise can help you to develop symmetry and balance in your legs and can help increase your power and performance , especially when doing any bounding jumps or jumps off of 2 legs. This is similar to the standard triple jump, except you will begin by standing in place, balancing on one foot.
Start by jumping forward off of one leg and landing on the other. Next, jump forward again, only this time using the oposite leg. Do this in a fluid motion jumping a total of 2 times with each leg. Pause a few seconds between sets and execute 3-4 sets all together.
EXERCISE 5 : FROG JUMPS
Begin in an upright position slightly bent forward. Hold one end of a dumbbell with both hands and keep your arms straight allowing the weight to hang.
You will now squat down into the power position and then use your downward force to push into the ground and drive your body upward jumping forward as far you can. You will really feel your hip-flexors being stretched and unlocking the explosiveness within your core. You want to allow the dumbbell to swing freely, but under control. Do 4 jumps in a row, resting a few seconds between sets. You want to complete 10-12 sets.
Conclusion
Make sure to do these exercises at least 3 times a week with a minimum of a days rest in between. You will begin to notice the difference very soon in your sprint speed and jump. We hope you have great success with your athletic achievements!Related: UNLOCKING YOUR HIP-FLEXORS...
Cheers,
Richard
